Scans

Here are two of the pictures I got at my last appointment, which was at 13 weeks. Profile shot:

And here is a front shot. It seems pretty clear to me, but my mom couldn't figure it out, so good luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you who don't know, we have a little thanksgiving treat for you:


Next May our lives will go from a little crazy to pure chaos:) Going from one to two kids made our lives exponentially crazier. Not just like adding a little to the m ix, but seriously throwing a loop. I've heard going from two to three is a little easier than that though so I'll get back to you on that!

We're super excited to add to the Lubbers family! Ultrasound pictures to come soon!

Habakkuk

I've been reading Habakkuk lately. I read it a long time ago and thought it was really boring...but now I think it's awesome! I've been listening to Matt Chandler's sermons along with my reading and they have been so good, so I highly recommend that series which you can find here.

One thing that I've really liked is the Discipline or Wrath talk. It's affected me in two ways: as a daughter of God and as a mom. Chandler says all the time that when bad things happen to him it is not God's wrath. He had brain cancer and is always told that it could come back at any time, so he isn't talking as one who has never suffered. During this current season of my life I feel like we've been suffering a bit. Sickness, worries, etc. have been hard. It's easy to say, well at least we don't have brain cancer, but Chandler even points out that suffering is suffering and it can be good to know that it could always be worse, but it's still suffering in your life for today. What I took from this series is that God has a vision for my future and that means that pressure may need to be applied today so that I can grow into who He wants me to be.

That is how Chandler defines discipline: a vision for the future that enacts things today. And that is always how I've thought of it with my kids. How can I spank Mary for the smallest disobedience even though I don't like doing it? How can I stick to my guns with Noah when I've told him to do something, even if it might not seem like a big deal to others? Because I have a vision for their future. My vision is that one day they would be SLAVES of Christ and live for the glory of God. One day when God tells them to jump, I want them to immediately respond, "How high???" They shouldn't need to hesitate or waver because they've come to trust their heavenly father. One day they will have wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord. And to me that means that they hold our God in such high esteem and admire Him so much that they would be terrified to do anything against Him. They wouldn't want to be outside His will because they love Him so much and more importantly they recognize His incredible love for them. This is my vision for their future, so it gives me the motivation to continue on with disciplining (training, teaching, etc.) them.

Now when I apply this back to myself it is so helpful in this time. God has a vision for my future. So if I get no sleep tonight because Noah has a toothache and can't sleep either, then I'm cranky the whole next day even though I've been PRAYING for God to remove this pain from him (mostly so I can get sleep)... I wont see that as God's punishment (wrath) on me. I know that God has a plan for me and I want to trust that what I'm going through is going to facilitate that plan.

Family Pics

Well the day we had planned for family pictures turned out to be kind of a bust. Rainy, but not super cold so that was nice! We ended up at the covered shelter at harbin park which worked out well. I got a couple pictures of the kiddos:

He looks like such a man in that picture. Until you see him in the background of the next picture clutching his baby doll. And to be honest, Ian took the baby doll away and gave him the stick instead:)

And after much photoshopping we have a picture of everyone smiling! Well, besides Noah, but he literally didn't smile the entire time. He just kept saying, "down!"

Sickness

Everyone has been sick around here. I'm going on 3 weeks but today I feel slightly better than yesterday, so maybe I'm over the hump. Mary and Noah both had pink eye and ear infections, but they are looking much better now on their 4th day of antibiotics.

It's been about a month and a half of sickness, so it's easy for me to complain and whine in my head. Which always slaps me in the face because I'm constantly telling Mary that we need to do everything without whining or complaining. Anyway, instead of complain about it (more than I just did), I'd like to say what's been awesome about being sick...

1. I watched all the Harry Potter movies again in preparation for this Friday when the last one comes out!

2. While doing that I finally finished Mary's blanket (that I started in June). I promise it's not because I'm lazy. This blanket is the most time consuming project I've ever done. And I used the most time consuming stitch to put all the squares together. I'm hoping that it will last a long time and some day when I teach her to crochet she will really appreciate this blanket!



3. The kids both sleep more when they're sick. That is a plus because I've been sick at the same time so it means I get to sleep more too:)

4. I've cleaned the entire house top to bottom. Yesterday and today I've sanitized everything I can. I've been meaning to do that for a while but it just hasn't happened. The pediatrician gave me another good idea for limiting germs in our house: switching out hand towels daily. I don't have enough bathroom towels to do that...maybe once a week. But I have lots of kitchen towels so I've been switching them everyday.

That's my list. There are things to be thankful for in sickness:)

halloween

Here it is folks.